Sustainable Transportation

This diagram shows the various pathways to sustainable (land) transportation

sponsored by
the International Institute of Sustainable Transportation

Our ancestors achieved high mobility using only the power of the sun (including the winds stirred by solar flux and of course the calories provided by photosynthesis). Can we escape the curse of fossil fuels and return to this ideal, creating mobility with solar power?

Here are some websites featuring many awesome forms of sustainable transportation, including sea-going vessels and flying machines. While what you see here are mostly sports vehicles and record-setting activities, take a close look to see the useful technologies and commercial potential emerging from these creative efforts.

For being such a seemingly ordinary vehicle, the wheelbarrow has a surprisingly exciting history. This is especially true in the East, where it became a universal means of transportation for both passengers and goods, even over long distances.

The Chinese wheelbarrow - which was driven by human labour, beasts of burden and wind power - was of a different design than its European counterpart. By placing a large wheel in the middle of the vehicle instead of a smaller wheel in front, one could easily carry three to six times as much weight than if using a European wheelbarrow.

SMUD has developed a solar charging station for electric vehicles. If the public utility has a black-out, plug your house into your car at night!

Solar Cycling. "With the combination of solar and human power, there is no limit to ... where [solar cycles] can take us. Both your pedaling and the sunshine propel solar/human powered vehicles... with an electric motor and solar electric panels (PV), coupled with storage batteries ...."

The 2003 America's Cup regattas brought the world's best and fastest high tech sailing ships to compete in New Zealand, but none more light and exotic than the yacht which flew a kite sail spinnaker designed by KiteShip USA during the Louis Vuitton Cup trials, to stun the yacht racing world. Here KiteShip USA is flying the OutLeader kite on the Hauraki Gulf in Auckland, New Zealand during a break in the 2003 Louis Vuitton Cup regatta.

In Spring 2004, the seed of an idea a little crazy germinates in the mind of Raphael Domjan. He is 39 years old and Swiss.... Like others, he feels that we rapidly need to find alternatives to our wild oil consumption but that, at the same time, the huge potential of renewable energy still need to be proven and promoted.

Raphael then imagines an extraordinary adventure inspired by his reading of Jules Verne's novels: Travelling around the world aboard a ship which is being propelled by solar energy only!

Sydney Solar Sailor. Now this is something to see! A combination of sails (rigid, like wings) covered with solar cells. (Original model at right.)

Mike Walden has patented a number of "Lighter Than Air Solar" lenticular airship concepts which in turn have inspired others. One example:

The new Aquarian Airship as envisioned in TMP2 is a derivative of scientist/engineer Michael Walden's VTOL-capable LTAS (lighter-than-air-solar) concept and would employ an unusual flattened ovoid dirigible hull that features an integral photovoltaic skin on its top surface... Under solar power alone, the vessel is likely to support 50-60mph speeds with unlimited range and no fuel cost...